FOUR students proved they were word perfect to win through to the North-East final of a national Spelling Bee competition.

A team from Wolsingham School and Community College were successful in the first heat of a contest organised by The Times newspaper to promote good spelling in schools.

Harry de Muschamp, Angel Kotwall, Rose Atkinson and Grant Parvin, who are all aged 11 and 12, beat four other schools at a competition held at the Odeon Cinema, in Darlington, to go through to regional semi-finals in Newcastle in May.

Pupils from Nunthorpe School, Teesside, were in second place, with Durham Johnston third.

Rose won the first round by being the last competitor standing in a spell-off.

The team went on to score the most points in a two-minute quick fire round and were told they had one of the highest scores in the country so far.

Rose said: "We really enjoyed the day and would like to do it again."

The Times Spelling Bee was set up to find the country’s best young spellers and to make spelling fun. More than 750 UK schools have taken part since it started in March.